InfoSAWIT, BRUSSEL – European Union (EU) on Thursday (18/8/2023) investigated if palm oil biodiesel that Indonesia exported tried to avoid income tax in EU through China and United Kingdom (UK).

EU is the biggest palm oil markets from Indonesia, after India and China. It needed to investigate the case after Board of European Biodiesel (an EU producer association) asked for it.

“The initiative (to have investigation) might mean enough evidences that the countermeasure in import products by the concerned which are being investigated,” EU Commission noted as in the official statement.

EU Commission also mentioned, the palm oil export changing trade system happened that involved Chinese Government and UK after the countermeasure.

As quoted from Reuters, General Director of International Trading Negotiation Ministry of Trade Indonesian Republic, Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono said that the government would monitor the investigation and would get anything necessary if bad things happened which were not the same with World Trade Organization (WTO) regulation.

In the early of this week, Indonesia also asked for WTO dispute consultation with EU on EU income tax on biodiesel imports from Indonesia.

When being asked about this situation, the speaker of EU Commission mentioned that EU believed the investigation would fully be the same with WTO regulation and EU is ready to discuss this issue with (the Government of) Indonesia.

The trade between EU and Indonesia gets more intensive after the continent published European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) that would ban every export product that had something with deforestation. It is predicted that the regulation would have something to do with palm oil to EU because the main suppliers are Indonesia and Malaysia. Besides biodiesel, palm oil is also widely used to food and cosmetic products. (T2)